The Mystery

[WalkieTalkie]

I have been doing SEO for about 3 years.  And at times, this whole thing seems to be a mystery---or maybe the Google mystery?

I have a client in Mass that I have been working with for 3 years.  I think we are doing everything right  - 1200 words of content each month with relevant keywords -Google, Google Business, etc, etc, etc, We use Wordpress and everything is correct.  Charging them $1000 a month - and get a call from the client telling me that their competitor how has basically a "homemade website" ranks higher than her....consistantly!

Another client in GA did SEO about 5 years ago and he quit.  He does absolutely nothing on his site - no optimization, no Google Reviews, no added pictures, no YouTube---and he remains in the top 1 to 3 position in the high ranking keywords.   I started working with another GA contractor about 3 years ago and doing the entire SEO package, but we can rank higher than him?

WTH?  Can someone tell me the "Mystery"?

[SharonEKG]

Thank you. that was an eye-opener.now i understand now that the SEO content and UX on a page can be great but if the interaction on the site is not satisfying to Google compared to competitors then is not enough.

[EGOL]

Google has advanced beyond the normal and visible SEO metrics - that include page optimization, DA/PA, backlinks, etc.

Google is measuring and valuing and counting information that you are unable to see.  They know how strongly or weakly  visitors engage your website - both from the SERPs and on your page.  They know which pages of your site bounce traffic, which pages convert, which pages are exited, which are entered.  Then they can comapre all of that against your competitors.

You better believe that Google is counting this stuff.  This is the optimization that most people are missing.  This is the "website quality" that takes work and expertise to develop.

Google is also assessing the E-A-T of your company and the authors (experience, authority and trust).  They can determine if you are a qualified author for your industry, if you are grabbin' and slappin' the content of others or if you are writing from experience, they know the behavior of people on your site who are noobs and people on your site that know their stuff.  And, they can say the same about the people who link to you.  Again, all of this can be compared to the E-A-T of your competitors... who is getting mentions, how they are mentions, how many visitors are asking for you by name.

This stuff isn't words on a page that you can count, links to the site that you can see in a report.  This is information that Googlge gleans from their SERPs, from the Chrome browser, from SERP interactions, and from the credentials and chatter that occurs on the web - and also offline.

[SharonEKG]

for example, Moz OnPage Grader. im checking a website of a client i work for and results comes out as not having keywords in title/content etc.. which it does. also i still yet to figure out how websites/pages rank for a certain keyword even if that keyword is not in title/content when the OnPage grader claims its a hurting factor NOT to have that.

after consuming countless of articles and Whiteboard Friday still, to me it just an overall feel like something fundamental is missing in my knowledge or understanding, and since i am the only SEO in the agency i got no one to consult

[SharonEKG]

site speed both mobile and desktop is over 75

[WalkieTalkie]

Funny - have been to a couple seminars and have a few colleagues (who claim they are very good) that put less effort than I do.  I am going to take MOZ  SEO Bootcamp in May--damn I hope I learn something!

[Andrew-SEO]

What about site speed. -https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

[SharonEKG]

i know exactly how you feel. 5 years into SEO industry and sometimes i can't put my finger on why and how some pages or website are being ranked so high or low compared to other pages/websites that have different content but otherwise exactly the same! there was a blog/whiteboard Friday about page analysis but i still could not figure it out. feels like something very basic, very fundamental is missing and i can't tell what.

[Andrew-SEO]

What about the page authorities of the individual pages that are competing.

Does the weaker ranking site have decent internal linking to spread the pagerank around? e.g. breadcrumbs/page level links?

[WalkieTalkie]

For my MA contractor  - the DA is 23, the home made site is 9.  But he ranks higher and usually in the top 3 position.

For my GA contractor- the DA is 13, the competitor (no seo in several years) is 15.

Just does not make sense.

Thanks

[Andrew-SEO]

Have you analysed the backlink profile?

Do a quick Domain Authority check.